He joined the TDSB in 2009, and proceeded to steer the School Board in an even more “progressive” direction—something few would have considered possible.

On Spence’s watch, the Toronto District School Board:

Allowed a lunchtime “mosque” to operate in a public school, despite objections from parents and pundits. (During these “voluntary” prayer services, male Muslim students sit at the front, Muslim girls sit behind them—and menstruating Muslim girls are relegated to the very back rows.)

Scolded parents for treating “their children differently, based on gender, almost from the moment of birth,” and insisted that teachers be proactive in “raising children’s awareness of these stereotypes” and “eliminating gender barriers wherever they may be found.” [ Anti-Sexism and Gender Equity, TDSB Website]

While all this was going on, Chris Spence was busily burnishing his public image as a caring, concerned educator. A backstory that blended athleticism and academics made him the perfect male role model to the city’s “urban” youth, a To Sir With Lovefor Toronto’simmigration-createdJane-Finchghetto.

That is, until the first week of this year. After being tipped off by an alert reader, the city’s doctrinaire liberal Toronto Star newspaper was forced to apologize after a January 5 op-ed “by” Chris Spence turned out to contain “substantial unattributed material from several other sources.” [Without school sports, everyone loses, see “Public Editor’s note”]

As one local education blogger noted, Spence’s cheating in that instance was particularly idiotic: OISE has such “ridiculously low standards that he could have written a 120 word essay about his feelings and still have been awarded an advance degree from them.”

Ironically, as Toronto columnist Barbara Kay pointed out, Spence was fired for doing the same thing countless students get away with every day, thanks to the Toronto District School Board’s own “progressive” pedagogical polices:

Because even if [a teacher] does detect [plagiarism], there’s no payoff — that is, no consequence for the student. Instead of dealing with it summarily as a matter between herself and the student, she must follow a time-consuming, documented protocol, during which parents are notified and all attend a meeting with administration, who may or may not compel the student to attend a ‘plagiarism/academic integrity course.’

But in the end it doesn’t matter, because inevitably the student is allowed to rewrite the assignment with no marking penalty. In truth, because politicians, school boards and administrators are obsessed with elevating graduation rates, and increasingly willing to pass students at any cost, it is correspondingly difficult for disempowered teachers to punish students for anything at all. [There will be no do-overs for Chris Spence, January 16, 2013]

These “standards” are in place across Canada. An Edmonton teacher was fired last year for refusing to abide by his school’s “no-zero policy”—that is, for daring to actually fail poorly performing students. (He’s now working in the private sector, where they appreciate him.)

Alas, that teacher didn’t get the same generous separation settlement that Chris Spence has ended up with: what amounts to about $200,000 in unpaid salary plus banked unused sick- and vacation days.

Some of that cash is apparently going into the coffers of a public relations firm: Spence has signed up as a client of Daisy Consulting, run by notorious Liberal Party operative Warren Kinsella (no stranger to controversy himself.)

It’s unclear whether or not it was Daisy’s idea for Spence to help repair his shattered reputation by announcing his intention to enroll in a Ryerson University ethics course. [Spence doesn’t make sense, prof says, Ryerson EyeOpener, January 15, 2013]

The punch line to this sorry saga of Affirmative Action in action: That course’s instructor says “Dr.” Chris Spence, once the city’s great black hope, isn’t qualified to take the class.